I reordered the images – image 2 and 3 were swapped and the last image (which I don’t think fits with the rest of the set) was the 4th image.
General Notes
In terms of line edits, this is probably the least edited set of images since I started editing lines for every image. Until this set, there has always been at least one image that ended up looking completely different from the original – but these all stay pretty close to the original.
That being said, I did add effects to 4 out of the 5 images. These were all done on my phone (and thus, fairly basic) and optimized for my phone display – which is how I prefer to view the images.
I was hoping for two things when I started work on this set – a really good, new simple pattern and a really good, new complex pattern. I got what I was looking for.
Image 1 (90×90 Level 46)
Effects: +2 Hue, +3 Contrast, 30(out of 100) Evergreen, 25/100 Vignette
This is the most random-looking pattern in the set.
The red and yellow lines that outline the pattern cover over 1/3rd of the board – the red line is over 1700 tiles and the yellow over 1000. Even though the red/yellow combination is one that I use frequently – it feels different than normal, mainly because the red line is actually rose (though similarity shading pushes it towards red), making the image cooler in comparison to most other red/yellow levels with magenta shading.
The thin intermediate sector between the border and the center (outlined by the rose line) is filled in almost perfectly (definition: as few lines as possible given the rules) – fairly impressive given it’s odd shape. The 3rd longest line in the level (an extra dark azure) covers 843/2061 cells in this area – but there are 3 other lines between 295 and 310 tiles, and the other 5 lines are 154, 99, 46, 7 and 3 tiles long.
Image 2 (91×91 Level 39)
Effects: 25/100 Vignette
Like the last(edit: next) image, this one has a very thick and heavily shaded frame surrounding the interior pattern. I have to go back to the 111×109 set to find even a single image with a similarly thick frame.
Normally I would never put two of these levels back to back in a set – but in this case, the colors and interior pattern are so different, that I think it really works. In this case, the frame naturally blends in with the interior pattern in a really unusual way – particularly given the odd set of colors.
The odd colors from this level and the central pyramid in the previous level foreshadow the final image in the set.
Image 3 (91×91 Level 21)
Effects: Hue -2, 8/100 Light Flare, 55/100 Vignette
This is the level from the 91×91 levels that satisfied my criteria of a really good, new, simple pattern. It is probably the most “perfect” level since the “P” in 80×80. The cyan line efficiently forms the border between the middle and the outside as well as the middle and the center. Everything else is filled in almost perfectly.
Although I frequently use the vignette effect – usually I keep the slider at or below 30/100. The ice house in the 80×80 remake is the only image that exceeded the 55/100 vignette effect here.
If you look closely – you might see a small area of short lines bunched together above and to the right of the central pattern. There are 11 lines in this small area and each cover 3 cells – the minimum allowable by my program. Surprisingly – there is no way to fill this sector with fewer than 11 lines – though if I had my way, I would rearrange them a bit so that there are 10 straight lines in a row.
Image 4 (91×91 Level 4)
Effects: +3 Contrast, 6000K White Balance (between daylight/normal (5500K) and cloudy (6500K), 30/100 Soft Glow, 20/100 Vignette
This is the most stunning pattern I’ve seen since 111×109 Level 25.
The Orange, Purple, and Green are not the typical main colors – the 3rd image in this set is possibly the closest I’ve seen color-wise to this image. These colors and the general darkness of the image make it particularly distinctive especially when compared it to most of my favorite levels – which I tend to look for bright, primary colors.
The Pattern
The pattern features two extremely unusual and connected features – orange-red line forms the outline of the “horn” and is the center of the big bend on the right side. This type of bend isn’t that unusual – but this one is extremely thick with a very long, narrow bend that makes it stand out. Further – these two types of features are almost never seen together (I don’t remember seeing any similar pairing).
This big pattern doesn’t take up the whole board – and there’s a pretty major sector at the top that could have spoiled the level (a common problem with unusual patterns). Fortunately – this area (the “machine gun”) is also quite good and adds to rather than detracts from the rest of the level.
The inside of the horn also could have ruined the level – I can easily see that area being filled with junk. Instead, the yellow-orange line is possibly the best example of a single line filling an entire pyramid-shaped sector.
The Edits
This is by far the least edited image of any of my recent favorites. Besides the effects, the most obvious difference comes from making a few short, odd-looking bright lines dark. Almost every other line change was very minimal such that I needed to use a 1,104 color palette to make them because the 132 color palette didn’t have enough in-between values.
For example: the orange-red line (3/4s of the way to orange from red) used to be just orange, the yellow-green line used to be chartreuse and the yellow-orange line used to be plain yellow.
The biggest shift comes from the azure line at the center of the “machine gun.” Initially – I made many more changes to this part of the board thinking I could make it more interesting. Most of them were reverted though because they didn’t fit with the rest of the image.
Other
The colors and the pyramid are the foreshadowing I was referring to from the other two 91×91 images in the set.
My program also loved this level – it had the best similarity score of any level since the 101×99 set. I didn’t know this until after I finished the set – as I purposely avoid looking at how my program rates individual levels so that it doesn’t influence my opinion (though it sometimes does, after I finish a set).
Image 5 (90×90 Level 49)
Effects: None
This is the one image in the set that I edited before I saw the 91×91 levels. Of the 750 initial images for the 60 90×90 levels I looked at, this original was by far my favorite.
Any time an image is my favorite of a new set – I go through the exercise of trying to convince myself it is my favorite of any set by comparing it to past favorites. I couldn’t fully convince myself with this one (partly due to the colors being similar to the others), which was possibly the biggest reason I gave up on making a separate 90×90 set.
I have to admit – even though I really liked the image, it bothered me having to look at it in the middle (well, 4th out of 5) of the set. Thus, I moved it to the back of the set – and I consider it to be a B-Side or appendix.
Full-sized images available here: 90+91 gallery